Kev Rowland here is one word to describe this 2014 album that rises clearly above all others, “Intensity”. The production on this album seems to have brought everything together at the highest volume possible, so much so that the listener is quite drained by all of it. Singer Simone Simons has a quite stunning voice, but to be honest she is sometimes drained out by the choir and also by the rest of the band so that she actually loses some of the impact. This is a real shame, as the album as a whole is an incredible piece of work, much more metallic than the band to which they are most often compared, Nightwish, with the twin guitars locked in and riffing hard. They are also more downtuned and there is the feeling that this a guitar based-band first and foremost, as opposed to keyboard-based. Of course, Epica have a second singer in Mark Jansen who favours death growls as opposed to the ‘proper’ singing of Marco Hietala, so there is a very different feel between the two acts.

In many ways I actually prefer Epica, as the intensity is palpable: here is a band that are all firing on all cylinders, rushing to the end, taking no prisoners. Sure, I would have preferred to have Simone’s vocals higher in the mix, but perhaps I’m being just a little picky? This is a symphonic metal band who concentrate on the latter more than the former, and that’s just fine with me.Yes, they slow it down here and there, but it is when they are at full gallop with the band playing hard and the choir singing their hearts out, and Simone striving to rise above it all, that they are at their very best.

arcane-beautiful While I did enjoy Epica's last album “Requiem For The Indifferent”, I did think that it was the bands weakest albums. I did like the change in direction that the band where attempting, but I did feel that while they did write some brilliant tracks, there was a mad amount of filler. But now the band have steered towards their older stuff yet still have held their newer influences and sounds.

Musically the band have definitely went into a more heavier direction, with the guitar sound being a lot more prominent and heavier on this album. This album has also seen the band bring back the focus on choirs, with the choir being a big main attraction on this album. One of the bands biggest positives has to be Simone's vocals, which in my opinion are the best they've ever been.

One of the bands biggest attractions would have to be the bands lyrics, with the band going in some interesting directions. Dealing with concepts on humanities inability to deal with aspects of reality which are too hard to contemplate (explaining the reference to the id, ego and superego on the album cover). I do believe the band have some pretty cool lyrical moments on this album, but sometimes the bands lyrics can be a little bit generic, although very rarely though.

The opening track “The Second Stone” shows off one of the bands most interesting riffs in the past few years. Pretty catchy chorus carries the song too.

The first song to be previewed from the album “The Essence Of Silence” has to be one of the bands strongest and most interesting songs to come out in a while. With an epic choir adding to the bands epic sound, the songs real highlight is the chorus which shows off some very impressive vocals from Simone.

One of the albums most interesting tracks is “Sense Without Sanity -The Impervious Code” Lyrically dealing with a lot of different philosophical ideas being brought forward. The songs arrangement is also pretty interesting too.

The album's single “Unchain Utopia” is a rather interesting choice for a single. With a chorus which is channelled by a choir based chorus, it is rather catchy, but I do find better and more obvious examples which could be used as the albums lead single.

The albums interlude “The Fifth Guardian” is probably one of the bands best interludes in the past few years, with some lovely instrumental arrangements. The interlude is also a brilliant passage way into “Chemical Insomnia.” A kick ass guitar riff and a pretty cool chorus, this song is definitely one of the strongest tracks on the album. Lyrically the song has a lot of beautiful poetry, which is strange because the song (which is about drug abuse) is quiet hard to do, but the band have done it before in their classic track “Chasing The Dragon.”

One of the albums most anthemic and catchiest songs has to be “Omen – The Ghoulish Malady.” With an anthemic chorus and some pretty cool vocals, the song is one of the albums more sing all songs.

The album's final track “The Quantum Enigma – Kingdom Of Heaven Part II.” Being the bands most epic song in the past few years, with some pretty impressive arrangements, especially with some briliant clashes between clean and guttural vocals. Lyrically the song is pretty impressive too, attacking religion with some pretty interesting view points.

In conclusion, this is pretty much business as usual, but it is a definite step in the right direction when compared to “Requiem For The Indifferent”. By a long shot this isn't their best album, but it is a pretty strong effort nontheless. Packed full of surprising tunes and showing a heavier sound to the band, fans of the band will definitely love this album.

7.9/10

Genres: Symphonic Metal, Progressive Metal, Death Metal, Extreme Metal, Power Metal

Country of origin: Netherlands

Year of release: 2014

adg211288 The Quantum Enigma (2014) is the seventh full-length album by Dutch symphonic metal act Epica (providing one counts The Score - An Epic Journey (2005), otherwise it is only the sixth). In the time since their previous album Requiem for the Indifferent (2012) the band have parted ways with original bassist Yves Huts, replacing him with Rob van der Loo, who also plays with Epica leader Mark Jansen in MaYaN. The Quantum Enigma is the second album by a Mark Jansen band to be released this year, following MaYaN's Antagonise (2014) a few months previously.

What makes Epica such a high class act in the symphonic metal genre is that they have never made the same album twice. Following their debut The Phantom Agony (2003) they released the relatively growl free Consign to Oblivion (2005), brought the growls back and gave their music a extra dose of power metal on The Divine Conspiracy (2007) and then became increasingly progressive on Design Your Universe (2009), ultimately resulting in the full-on progressive metal release that was Requiem for the Indifferent. On The Quantum Enigma they've made changes to their sound again. The music is still more progressive than either The Divine Conspiracy or Design Your Universe but less so, overall at least but perhaps more so in certain parts, than Requiem for the Indifferent. The amount of power metal influence has also seen another increase compared to the last couple of albums, although it's quite modern sounding in the riffs department. I'd say the album draws its cues mostly from The Divine Conspiracy and Requiem for the Indifferent so in a sense is on the level with Design Your Universe but find more middle ground between the two sounds than that album did, as well as having a few different elements such as some folk influences that have a distinct Asian vibe to them.

While The Divine Conspiracy and Design Your Universe are two of the best symphonic metal albums ever recorded in my opinion, I did not enjoy Requiem for the Indifferent to quite the same level. That was unfortunate, because I'd actually been quite eagerly awaiting the day that Epica fully embraced their progressive influences. Tracks like Kingdom of Heaven from Design Your Universe (which incidentally has a sequel on The Quantum Enigma) number among my favourite Epica tracks, so it was disappointing that Requiem for the Indifferent did not live up to its full potential, although the album was still excellent, proving again that Epica are more than a cut above all the other beauty and the beast symphonic metal acts out there. Although it was initially disappointing that The Quantum Enigma has withdrawn some of this influence again instead of further building on it, such feelings were quickly dispersed as I came to realise that Epica have found the perfect balance here between symphonic progressive metal and symphonic power metal, without really producing an album that belongs to either genre.

It is simpler to just call The Quantum Enigma epic symphonic metal, because that's exactly what it is regardless of how many other styles of metal Epica draw on. They've really put the epic into Epica with this one. Great symphonic arrangements, complexity, speed, and Simone Simons' vocals are as top notch as ever. Mark Jansen's growling plays just an important role though. It's not wrong to say that The Quantum Enigma is also part symphonic death metal, especially when dealing with a track like Victims of Contingency which is one of the most aggressive things Epica have ever done. To be honest it kind of sounds like a leftover from the last MaYaN album and was in fact co-written by Jack Driessen and Frank Schiphorst, MaYaN's keyboardist and guitarist, so it might well be as I say. Leftover or not, Epica has always done tracks like this, with really extreme and intense growling sections that go a step further than is normal for symphonic metal acts, and it just so happens that Victims of Contingency is one of the best tracks on the album. Best tracks are always hard to call on the most top quality of releases but right from the first listen to Victims of Contingency I couldn't believe how powerful the song was.

Where Victims of Contingency sets itself up as the most aggressive thing that Epica has done the album's title track (which is subtitled as Kingdom of Heaven Part II) aims for a different milestone; their most epic track. At almost twelve minutes it's the longest track on The Quantum Enigma; a little shorter than the original Kingdom of Heaven. Apart from both being progressive influenced epics I don't detect too many similarities between the two tracks; no rehashing has been involved. It's a great way to end a great album and like with Victims of Contingency is an instant high point. This is not to say that the rest of the album is weaker, as it's not, but the other songs did require a few more listens to sink in than these two did. I have one small issue with the album and that is the fact that it's a bit too heavy on the use of choirs for me, but my enjoyment isn't exactly impacted by this so is a niggling issue at most.

Although I still prefer Design Your Universe, which is one of my favourite albums of all time, The Quantum Enigma is another very good release from Epica, who prove again that they are one of the best symphonic metal bands, possibly even the number one.